Goal

One of the themes of this book is that after a certain level of skill you are on your own. You can't just pick up a book on something that doesn't exist yet. This is the same with your goal for what you are working towards. Moving past the intermediate level, people will diverge.

Here is where it gets fun. I think everyone has their own view point, or the way their brain works. Our job is to accentuate that as much as possible.

After you have learned to apply the rules, now you get to find areas of your craft to focus on. It could be many things. Like focusing on your own style of art, or it could be meta skills, where you can organize something at a high level.

For me, my skill, I think, is that I hate to repeat myself and everything needs to fit. So my skill set is not so much in programming but in solving technical problems. While they sound like the same thing, they are not.

For me, I love simple and elegant solutions. What I have realized over my career is that I love solving problems and then moving on. The fun is creating something that truly solves the problem, so I can forget about it. If I can find a new and elegant way to do that, even better.

That goal though took time to figure out.

It is also what makes this journey so awesome.

You get to figure out what excellence means for you and where you want to break or create new rules.

So you are going to have to figure out what the bar means to you. What does excellence look like for you?

This is an ongoing process. This will be circular. As you go and improve and are more capable, you can keep pushing.

Our goal is the flag we put down, and then we work on elevating our skills until we can actually reach that goal, rinse and repeat.

So our goal is to set our own goals.

What would the best version of this look like to you?

What would the best that had ever done it look like?

Not knowing

On this front, I don't have too much advice except to say if you don't know right now that is ok. It can take time, and it is ok to explore. If you don't, then I would recommend trying as many things as possible, but it can't just be thinking about it.

You need to actually try something before your brain will really be able to give a thumbs up or thumbs down. Make small bets and try things. If you don't know what you want, try to exclude all the things you don't want. Sometimes that is easier.

Also, this is a cyclic journey, as your goals will change as go along. As you go and your skill improve, and you learn more, so does the next goal state.